We've all been there.
You wake up one day, feeling a little under the weather, but try to tough it out for a few days.
When that doesn't work, you go to the doctor to get medicine that will make all the problems go away.
That's what Carolinas PGA Professional Bob Boyd did this past February, when he thought that he was coming down with the flu.
He went to the doctor to get an antibiotic because he wanted to be healthy for upcoming trips to Pebble Beach and then across the pond for the European Senior Tour season.
"I hadn't been sick in thirty-five years," Boyd said.
After a physical and blood tests, Boyd was jolted to hear that he didn't have the flu.
"Big Pro," as his friends and fellow PGA Professionals called him, had cancer.
Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, to be exact.
Oncologist Dr.
Bill McNulty, a good friend of Bob's confirmed the diagnosis.
"It was really a shock," Boyd said.
"I really didn't know what leukemia was.
All I knew was that it wasn't good.
" In the days that followed, Boyd spent hours researching the disease that was ravaging his body.
"I didn't really spend a lot of time wondering, 'Why me?'" Boyd reflected.
"All I wanted to do was learn about the disease and figure out what it was going to take to get rid of it.
" He also read about rising Nationwide Tour player Jarrod Lyle, who was diagnosed with AML in 1999 when he was all of 17.
Lyle was victorious in his fight against AML after enduring nine months of chemotherapy and being unable to pick up a golf club for eighteen months.
Lyle is also currently in the top 20 on the Nationwide Tour money list.
The first step for Boyd was two rounds of chemotherapy at UNC-Memorial Hospital, where he spent 78 days with "the most wonderful nurses and doctors in the Oncology and Hematology Unit.
" The process was grueling and Big Pro lost sixty-two pounds during the chemotherapy treatments.
"I was so weak, I couldn't do anything.
I couldn't even get out of bed," the sixteen-time CPGA major tournament champion said.
After a return home for six weeks, Boyd returned to UNC-Memorial for a bone marrow transplant in June.
During his stay at the hospital, one of the few things Boyd could do is watch movies.
In fact, he now could moonlight as a film critic.
"I obviously had a lot of time on my hands," Boyd said with a laugh.
"During the bone marrow transplant I was confined to the room because the risk of infection was high and my immune system was so weak.
I'd watch a movie, and it would knock out a couple hours of the day.
Then I'd watch another one.
Favorite movie of the summer? Boyd didn't have one.
"Nothing sticks out in my head.
I saw too many, really.
A lot of bad chick flicks.
" Boyd, whose name dots the CPGA record book like golf balls on a driving range, also spent a great deal of time thinking about golf.
"It's what I love, it's what I've done since seventh grade, and it's what makes me happy," Boyd said.
Upon learning from doctors that his best case scenario was a seven month recovery period, Boyd checked the calendar.
He saw the CPGA Section Championship in October.
"That became my motivation.
I set my goal as playing in the CPGA Section Championship," said Boyd, who has won the tournament four times in his career.
"That's what I thought about all summer.
If I worked hard enough that I could be back on the golf course and strong enough to play in the CPGA Section Championship.
" Big Pro cites the support of his family and friends as helping him the most in his battle against AML.
"My wife stayed with me the whole time and my son was always at my side," Boyd said.
"I couldn't have gotten through it without them.
" He was also very grateful for the support and prayers of his friends.
"It would have been easy to fall into depression during chemotherapy and while I was bedridden for months," Boyd admitted.
"But my friends and family were always there for me.
Thanks to their love and support, I was convinced that I would beat cancer.
Boyd has drawn much from the past year and his battle with leukemia.
"I appreciate how vulnerable we all are," Boyd said.
"I don't take life for granted like I used to because now I know firsthand that we are not guaranteed anything in life.
" Big Pro returned home to Wilmington in mid-September after a bone marrow transplant that was ninety-eight percent successful and with a blood cell count slowly returning to normal levels.
His medical checkups have gone very well so far and he has made his way back to the golf course.
Now, the task at hand for Big Pro is to reverse the muscle atrophy he obtained from spending 120 days in a hospital bed.
"I have a lot of work to do to build my strength back up," Boyd said.
"I haven't played competitive golf in seven and a half months and I've gone from hitting drives 285 yards to about 215 yards.
My legs feel like they are in buckets of cement.
" Simply happy to be alive, Big Pro has no thoughts of finishing on the top of the leaderboard in the upcoming CPGA Section Championship.
"I'm ecstatic to have the chance to fulfill my goal and to see all my friends in the CPGA Section," Boyd said.
"I just want to enjoy myself...
although, I must admit, that I would love to break 80 and make the cut.
" No matter what Bob "Big Pro" Boyd shoots at the CPGA Section Championship, he is already a champion.
Bob Boyd's battle serves as an inspiration to all athletes who must face hardship, and as a reminder that true achievement is measured not by athletic success, but by the individual's effort.
Boyd has had great success on the golf course, but his inspirational efforts far exceed that success.
Big Pro's triumphant victory against leukemia shows the great potential we all have for overcoming hurdles in life.